re: Speaking of BBS's...

["Steve Quarrella" <Steve.QuarrellaNOSPAM@f9005.n393.z1.fidonet.org>]

 ws> Not all universities were connected either. In my state - Michigan,
 ws> there were only a couple Universities connected to the internet
 ws> like University of Michigan and Michigan State U.  I went to
 ws> smaller schools which didn't get connected until much later.  I went to

I was at Wayne State from '85 to '89, and as I recall, you had to rub shoulders 
with the right people to even be considered for an account to hit the 'net.  
When I got to Michigan in late '89, all that changed. :-)

 ws> Yes. Mostly local BBS's in the United States  were connected. It
 ws> was a pain since you had to wait days for your messages to get posted
 ws> globally and to get responses.

Today, we move mail via the Internet.  I've had conversations with people over 
in Russia, via Fidonet, that might as well have been e-mail conversations.

>> Fidonet is still alive and well.  Check out e.g.:

We have an exceptionally lousy web presence, I regret.  Working on that.  
Another one to check is www.fidonet.ca.

 ws> I have checked out the current Fidonet forums but most of them
 ws> appear quite dead and void of messages. Are you sure anyone
 ws> still uses them?

Depends on what you're checking:  I've got plenty of living, breathing echos 
here. :-)